Salim Mehajer’s former wife has told a court she is ‘most definitely not’ in love with the disgraced former deputy mayor of Auburn – before breaking down in tears.
Aysha Learmonth made the admission in Burwood Local Court on Monday, with Mehajer ‘keeping his head low’ as she denied having any feeling for her estranged husband, News.com.au reports.
She then proceeded to wipe away tears as she admitted a message allegedly sent by the controversial property developer made her consider closing her fledgling business.
‘I was hesitating to close my business … I felt unsafe going there by myself,’ Ms Learmonth said
Aysha said the message – purportedly sent by Mehajer to her business’s Instagram account in November last year despite him being subject to an apprehended violence order – made her feel ‘very uneasy’.
‘I was hesitating to close my business … I felt unsafe going there by myself,’ Ms Learmonth said.
‘I’d made every effort to have no contact with Salim whatsoever and having that business was the first time I’d put myself back into life basically, where he would know where I was.’
Salim Mehajer’s former wife, Aysha Learmonth, (together) has wiped away tears while telling a court that a message allegedly sent by the controversial property developer made her consider closing her fledgling business
Mehajer has pleaded not guilty to breaching his AVO.
Ms Learmonth, who gave evidence via video link, said she carried bags of clothes when she left her then-husband in March 2016, and she hadn’t contacted him since June or July of that year.
She alleged he’d sent her more than 400 emails since their split and there’d been numerous ‘fraudulent or fabricated’ emails, letters and signatures by Mehajer pretending to be her.
‘I was hesitating to close my business … I felt unsafe going there by myself,’ Ms Learmonth told Burwood Local Court on Monday (working left)
Ms Learmonth, whose divorce from Mehajer (pictured together) became official earlier this month, said she’d made her beauty business as private as she could because ‘what Salim tends to do is find where I am, what I’m up to’
Ms Learmonth, whose divorce from Mehajer became official earlier this month, said she’d made her beauty business as private as she could because ‘what Salim tends to do is find where I am, what I’m up to’.
She said the November 2017 Instagram message came from his account and and included a comment about her realising the person he’d become – something she’d heard from him numerous times before.
She denied creating evidence, and that she wanted to say anything against her ex-husband that may ‘blacken his character and cause him problems’.
‘I don’t need to do that,’ she said under cross-examination from Mehajer’s barrister Geoffrey Foster.
Ms Learmonth (pictured) said she tried to make her beauty business as private as possible so she couldn’t be tracked by Mehajer
Ms Learmonth (with Mehajer) denied creating evidence, and that she wanted to say anything against her ex-husband that may ‘blacken his character and cause him problems’
She also denied writing emails after their separation asking how he was, saying she had finally decided to return to him, declaring her love for him and asking if he wanted to catch up for a drink.
She lost access to her old hotmail email account after it was hacked and she’d ‘definitely not’ written one particular email shown to her which was dated July 2017, the court heard.
Ms Learmonth thought the email was used to help Mehajer in a bail application to allow him to leave Australia.
Mehajer, who is in custody after being denied bail over another matter, sometimes glanced at his ex-wife but mostly looked at his notes while she gave evidence.
Mehajer, who is in custody after being denied bail over another matter, sometimes glanced at his ex-wife but mostly looked at his notes while she gave evidence
His lawyer earlier described her as ‘nothing more than a drama queen’ when the prosecution successfully applied for her to give evidence via video link rather than in Mehajer’s presence.
‘My client’s view is this is nothing more than the alleged victim grandstanding and trying to demonstrate her self-importance,’ Mr Foster said.
The hearing has been adjourned to continue on April 24.
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